The Mount Stewart Schools

Late/Absence Procedures

If your child is late to school, they will need to sign-in via our electronic signing-in system at our main reception in Carlisle Gardens. This applies for both Infants and Junior children.

We expect pupils to arrive at school on time. Late arrivals disrupt the education of others. Pupils arriving after the register has closed will be marked in the register as having an unauthorised absence. The school attendance policy states the time that the attendance register closes in the morning: (e.g. 30 minutes after registration);

Absence:

If your child is unwell and unable to attend school, please contact the school by 9:30am. You can call the school and leave a voice message:

For Infants please call 020 8907 5113 – Option 1

For Juniors please call 020 8907 1977 - Option 1

You can also send an email to: admin@tmss.org.uk. Please include your child’s name and class in your message.

Appointments/Exams:

Please avoid non-urgent medical and dental appointments during school time.

For any absences such as hospital or medical appointments, or external exams, please complete an additional ‘Pupil Additional Leave Form’ attaching evidence or ‘Supporting Evidence of Absence’ form where appropriate.www.tmss.org.uk/forms

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We think it is very important that all our pupils benefit from 190 days of learning to ensure they make progress and achieve the results they should. If a school can improve its attendance by 1%, this can result in a 5-6% improvement in attainment. We are asking you to support the school by ensuring your child achieves excellent attendance.

You can make a request to the Head of School in advance if you feel you have exceptional circumstances for your child to be absent during term time, however permission may not be given and the Head of School’s decision is final.

We do not expect pupils to come to school when they are sick, but parents of children with regular sickness absence will be expected to provide us with medical evidence before we authorise further absences. Medical evidence must be in the form of at least one of the following:

• A medical appointment card

• A medical appointment letter

• A copy of a prescription with the name of the child and the date

• Medication with a chemist’s label showing the name and the date

• An ‘unfit for school’ declaration or letter from your GP in the case of acute or prolonged illness

• A hospital discharge letter​

If you or your child is having difficulties which impact on their attendance, please make an appointment with a member of staff to discuss additional support.

We have an expectation that once we have notified a parent about our concerns, they will ensure that their child’s attendance improves significantly. If a pupil continues to have poor attendance, we will discuss this with our link Education Welfare Officer, and if necessary make a referral to Brent Education Welfare Service.

The Education Welfare Service may issue a parent with a Formal Warning, an Education Penalty Notice (EPN) or decide to prosecute if a child is persistently absent over a minimum period of 16 weeks. If a parent is issued with an EPN, they risk receiving a fine from Brent Council of £120 if paid within 28 days. This is reduced to £60 if paid within 21 days. Fines for unauthorised term time leave are issued to each parent for each absent child. Failure to pay the notice may result in a parent being prosecuted in court for their child’s unauthorised absence. For further information a copy of our attendance policy is available to read on the school website or you can find the Education Welfare Service’s Non-School Attendance, Education Penalty Notices, Local Code of Conduct on Brent Council’s website www.brent.gov.uk